A recent firmware update sent out by Dell for the XPS One desktop machine has raised quite a bit of suspicion over its legitimacy.

The firmware was sent out on a black CD via courier and had a Dell letter with it. However, the letter was poorly written and in black and white. One customer who received the disc got a bit suspicious and instead of putting it in his machine decided to check with Dell’s support website and tech support line first. The website had no information and the support line promptly told him the disc had not been sent by Dell and he should throw it away.

The firmware was legitimate and sent out because of an issue with the Samsung hard drives included in some of the XPS One machines. The hard drives themselves are fine, but the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) system is not turned on, meaning the hard drive can become unrecognized by the OS due to an auto-scan feature.

Anne Camden, spokesperson for Dell, said the tech department should have known about the firmware and that the disc had led to at least one other customer checking with them before using it.

As the discs were only being sent out to a subset of the customers of one system, it was probably put together with little coordination and planning. Still, Dell should treat all updates the same and ensure their customers know the information they are receiving is legitimate and safe.

All it would have taken to prevent this was an e-mail to the customer telling them to expect a disc, a better letter included with the CD and an entry on the support website. Not a great deal of extra work there to put minds at ease over the CD they are shoving in their machines is it?

I’m sure Dell has learned from its mistake and will do better next time. Anyone receiving dubious CDs in the mail should check before using them with the relevant company support lines and run a virus scan on them, too.

Reader Comments

seljo_myeri

The real news here is that only TWO people out of how many thousands bothered to check with DELL to make sure it worked! I see a new vector for serious hackers… "Here install this 'firmware update'… and I just hax0r all your bitx0rs!"

awesomeo

I too am alarmed at this news. With this revelation who knows what hackers and virus creators will cook up.

noone_specific

Two words. Social Engineering.

Reaper

And hand written note with a blank CD? Who is stupid enough to put it in their machine? Oh wait, I guess they DO have Dells. Probably could have sent them a floppy full of match heads and they would have still put it in without question.